{"id":191668,"date":"2026-02-24T17:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191668\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:46:23","slug":"las-sex-slave-strip-is-growing-and-sacramento-let-it-happen-gov-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/191668\/","title":{"rendered":"LA’s sex-slave strip is growing \u2014 and Sacramento let it happen: Gov candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"

A notorious 50-block stretch of South Los Angeles where prostitution unfolds in plain sight \u2013 and vulnerable girls, including minors, are trafficked night after night<\/a> \u2013 has exploded into a central flashpoint in California\u2019s 2026 governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

The corridor, known on the street as \u201cthe Blade,\u201d<\/a> slices a roughly 3- to 4-mile path along South Figueroa Street between Imperial Highway and Gage Avenue \u2014 a bleak gauntlet of motels, liquor stores and auto shops that morphs into one of the region\u2019s most brazen open-air sex markets after dark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two women, sex workers, interacting with a car at night on South Figueroa St. in Los Angeles. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

By day, it passes for just another struggling commercial strip. By night, traffic slows to a crawl as scantily clad girls, some wearing little more than thongs<\/a> despite temperatures dipping into the 50s, pace the corners waiting for buyers. Traffickers hover nearby, enforcing nightly quotas that can climb to $1,500 as they collect every dollar.<\/p>\n

To witness how the operation unfolds, The California Post embedded with Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and an anti-trafficking outreach team, whose members requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of their work, as they combed the corridor for missing or exploited girls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t keep a cent,\u201d one outreach worker said. \u201cThe money goes straight to the trafficker. Then they\u2019re taken back to a flop house during the day, often drugged, sometimes beaten, and sent right back out at night to do it all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nightfall transforms the otherwise quiet commercial strip into one of the region\u2019s most visible open-air sex markets. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

California governor candidate Steve Hilton joined a nighttime outreach operation searching for missing or exploited girls along the corridor. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely sickening,\u201d Hilton told The Post. \u201cRight under our noses, children are being sold for sex<\/a> \u2014 and nothing\u2019s happening, nothing\u2019s being done, no one seems to care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton has made the Blade a centerpiece of his campaign as Gov. Gavin Newsom prepares to leave office due to term limits, transforming the 2026 contest into a wide-open battle for control of the state. An Emerson College poll released last week<\/a> showed Hilton leading a crowded primary field with 17% support among likely voters.<\/p>\n

Outreach workers describe the corridor as a human conveyor belt. \u201cA girl can be missing in the afternoon and on this street by nightfall \u2014 swallowed up before anyone even knows where to look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cars circle slowly as women wait on corners along the 50-block stretch of South Los Angeles known as the Blade. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

That night\u2019s mission was to locate girls believed to be missing \u2014 a painstaking effort that can stretch for days as volunteers move block by block, scanning faces, taking photos and cross-checking names against missing-person reports in real time.<\/p>\n

Members of the group, which operates in trafficking hotspots worldwide, said the Blade ranks among the worst conditions they have encountered.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve worked cases in war zones, border regions and major trafficking hubs \u2014 and this is as bad as anything we\u2019ve seen,\u201d one team member said. \u201cThe scale, the visibility, the fact that it\u2019s happening out in the open \u2026 it\u2019s shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

If volunteers believe they have identified a victim, they alert police immediately \u2014 but they say the window to act is painfully short. By the time officers arrive, the person may already have been moved to another corner, into a car or back to a motel.<\/p>\n

Women dressed for the cold night temperatures wait on corners as vehicles pass through the corridor. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey move constantly, from cars to sidewalks to motels,\u201d one member said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t act fast, they disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates say recruitment often begins with a single social-media message \u2014 a promise of money, shelter or protection \u2014 and can spiral into exploitation within hours.<\/p>\n

In one recent case described by the team, a young girl was allegedly lured online, picked up the same day and violently assaulted before being forced onto the street. \u201cShe was hurt so bad, she couldn\u2019t even walk into the ER,\u201d one team member said.<\/p>\n

Victims come from every background, volunteers stressed. \u201cSome are middle class,\u201d another said. \u201cFamilies move to safer neighborhoods \u2026 and still end up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates say vulnerable girls are often moved rapidly between streets, cars and nearby motels. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Outreach teams patrol the area searching for missing or exploited individuals believed to be operating on the street. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

The Blade has also become ground zero in a bitter policy fight over California\u2019s prostitution laws.<\/p>\n

Critics point to Senate Bill 357, a 2022 measure by lefty state Sen. Scott Wiener that eliminated arrests<\/a> for loitering with intent to engage in prostitution. Wiener said the statute disproportionately harmed trafficking victims. The Los Angeles Police Protective League countered that the change was \u201ca human sex trafficker and pimp\u2019s dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid mounting backlash, lawmakers later advanced AB 379, targeting buyers rather than those selling sex. But Hilton, state treasurer candidate David Serpa and outreach workers say the response still falls far short.<\/p>\n

Nightfall transforms the otherwise quiet commercial strip into one of the region\u2019s most visible open-air sex markets. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Steve Hilton on a ride-along in a car on South Figueroa St. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are perverts practicing modern-day slavery,\u201d Serpa said after joining patrols along the corridor. \u201cThese men line up because they know they can get away with it. They\u2019re preying on vulnerable girls who often have no way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman has recently intensified enforcement efforts in the area, announcing felony prosecutions of traffickers and buyers. In one high-profile case<\/a>, a violent trafficker was sentenced this month after pleading guilty to human trafficking of both an adult and a minor for commercial sex.<\/p>\n

A figure walks down a street at night, illuminated by car headlights. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the defendant beat the victim if she questioned him, tried to leave or failed to meet demands \u2014 assaults that included punches to the face, burns from a heated metal spoon and beatings with a hanger.<\/p>\n

\u201cA violent sex trafficker and modern-day enslaver has been taken off the streets as a result of the tireless work of our prosecutors and the Los Angeles Police Department,\u201d Hochman said. \u201cThe depravity of sex traffickers who prey on the most vulnerable in our community, including children, knows no bounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serpa said demand fuels the entire system. \u201cThese men line up because they know they can get away with it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re preying on vulnerable girls who often have no way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton framed the corridor as proof of a broader breakdown in leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got politicians lecturing us about compassion \u2026 and girls being sold for sex, and they\u2019re doing nothing about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has to stop,\u201d Hilton said. \u201cAnd when I\u2019m governor, we\u2019re going to put a stop to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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